TF Bulldog Ready to Launch
Jan, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken outside our shop next to the tarmac at Kabul International Airport (now Harmid Karzai International Airport) in Afghanistan while I was contracted to NATO in support of ISAF/RS and OEF. When I couldn't be up in the birds, I loved getting shots of them prepping for mission and in the air.Time
This was mid-day, these guys are constantly on the go and I did a lot of "test shots" like this when testing a new camera body or lens.Lighting
The sun can be really harsh at 7,000 feet with no or little cloud cover, so shooting in Kabul was regularly interesting.Equipment
This was actually a test when I got a new Sigma 50-500mm lens and mounted it on my battle-tested A77. Like most of my shots, this was handheld.Inspiration
I love aircraft, particularly helicopters, and I loved working with the military all over the world but especially downrange. I liked to get shots of just the daily grind; things that we all accepted as normal and ordinary but showed the people back home a glimpse of our daily life.Editing
This shot has adjustments to clarity and exposure in LR and a lot of spot removal for all the grit that would get in the sensor.In my camera bag
Generally, I travel light with just some extra batteries and memory cards; usually I'll have a "walking lens" like the 18-250mm mounted on the A77 or the 24-240mm mounted on the A7R2 and sometimes something like a 50mm. When deployed, I tried to keep the load as light as possible; I already wore enough weight!Feedback
Be alert and then just keep shooting. I took thousands of pictures on airfields in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there are plenty of good enough shots, but sometimes one just really sticks out.
